JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Jumpei Osada, Masaaki Sasaki, Takuto Kobayashi and Hiroshi Ideyama, TMI Associates
Privileges of Japanese Ships The privilege to fly a Japanese flag is granted only to Japanese vessels, and in turn there is an obligation to always show that flag. Only Japanese-flagged ves - sels are able to call at closed ports or conduct coastal transportation of cargos and passengers. 1.4 Requirements for Ownership of Vessels For a vessel to be eligible to fly a Japanese flag, its owner must be: • a Japanese authority; • a Japanese citizen; • a company incorporated under the laws of Japan, with all its representatives and at least two thirds of its executive officers being Japanese nationals; or • an entity other than a company as described in the preceding point, in which all the representatives are Japanese nationals. As long as either of these last two requirements is met, the owner may own Japanese-flagged vessels, even if its shares are held by a foreign individual or company. The details of the hull, the mortgage and the identity of the owner upon delivery may be recorded on the commercial registry for vessels under construction. 1.5 Temporary Registration of Vessels Provisional Certificate of Nationality If the certificate of nationality of a vessel ceases to be valid while the vessel is anchored in a foreign port, or if a vessel is delivered to a place outside the jurisdiction - al district of the maritime authority that has jurisdic - tion over the registered port (including cases outside Japan), a provisional certificate of nationality may be issued. Any such certificate will expire in one year or less if the certificate is issued in a foreign country, and six months or less if it is issued in Japan. In any case, however, it will expire upon arrival of the vessel at the registered port. Dual Registration Dual registration is not allowed for Japanese vessels (including in cases of both charter-out and charter-in). However, in Japan, a special system called “ maru- ship ” is permitted, and when a Japanese vessel is bareboat-chartered to a foreign company, and the
with the other PSC MOUs. Under the New Inspec - tion Regime of the TOKYO MOU, vessels are catego - rised as either High-Risk Ships, Standard-Risk Ships or Low-Risk Ships, based on a consideration of the vessel type and age, flag, recognised organisation, and the number of deficiencies and detentions. Vessels are detained by the PSC in the event that the condition of the vessel or its crew fails substantially to satisfy the requirements of the applicable conven - tions to ensure that the vessel can proceed to sea with no danger to the vessel or persons on board and no threat of harm to the marine environment. The Min - istry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism publishes a list of the vessels detained in Japan on its website. Maritime Casualty Response Where maritime casualties such as grounding or pol - lution occur in the Japanese jurisdiction, the Japan Coast Guard and Japan Transport Safety Board have powers to deal with the casualties separately. A coastguard officer may take necessary measures, such as control of a vessel’s movement, in the event of maritime casualties including seafarers. The Japan Transport Safety Board may conduct interviews with the parties involved in the maritime casualty, carry out an on-site survey and demand that the parties submit incident reports for the purpose of investigations into the maritime casualties. 1.3 Domestic Legislation Applicable to Ship Registration Registration procedures for Japan-flagged vessels are mainly regulated by the Ship Act ( Sempaku-ho ). For vessels registered in Japan, there are two types of registration, each of which has a different purpose and competent authority. The first, commercial regis - tration ( toki ), is under the control of the Legal Affairs Bureau and records ownership, mortgages, lease rights, ship administrators, etc. The second, adminis - trative registration ( toroku ), is under the control of the District Transport Bureau or Shipping Bureau, which are subordinated to the Ministry of Land, Infrastruc - ture, Transport and Tourism, and records the details of the hull, the owner, the port of registry, etc. The certificate of nationality is issued upon administrative registration.
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